Puzzle Pieces
by Madin456
Summary: 100 pieces, 500 pieces, 2000 pieces-she loved puzzles of all kinds. But she's always felt that she was missing a piece. He never even sat down for a good ten minutes, claiming that puzzles were a waste of time. But just like adjacent pieces of a puzzle, they seemed to click. KilluaxOC.
1. Hiyori

**A/N: **Yes, I'm uploading this on July 7th. Yes, it's Killua's birthday. Yes, this was all planned. Yes, I'm awesome. Yes, Killua is awesome-er .

Just want to clarify something: the spelling of character names. Was it just me or were the anime and manga names really confusing since they were different? Those inconsistent bastards... So, I'm going to stick with the anime version. (Zoldyck instead of Zoaldyeck, Kite instead of Kaito, etc.) Because I watched the anime first. Yeah.

Also, huge thanks to my beta Reeyachan for reading over this chapter and future chapters to come. She has a HXH story too, so check that out!

**Summary: **100 pieces, 500 pieces, 2000 pieces-she loved puzzles of all kinds. But there was just one that she couldn't complete. He never even sat down for a good ten minutes, claiming that puzzles were a waste of time. But maybe they could help each other complete their own puzzles of life? KilluaxOC.

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter**_**.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Hiyori

"_Humans are social creatures," my teacher once told me. "You can try to cut your ties with everyone else, but no matter how cold and mean you are to others, you will always get an aching feeling in your heart. The urge to interact is just too great for anyone to bare."_

If a family could be defined as a group of people who cared about you and would be by your side supporting you with unconditional love no matter the circumstances as well as helping you through the hard times and giving you a shoulder to lean on when you were sad, then I think it was safe to say that I had no family.

Growing up for me was hard, especially with an older sibling. In the beginning, I had been prepared to be mocked and insulted by other kids, you know, the normal bully and victim routine. But I didn't expect to watch both my parents praise my brother—as if _they_ were the ones harassing me—and talk about how when I grew up, I should learn to be exactly like him. It was so obvious that they favoured him over me, but it felt worse when they didn't even bother trying to hide it.

He was the smarter one—the _better_ one—and he always exceeded me in everything he did; and yet, he didn't take this opportunity to brag or even bully me. He helped me up when I was down. He dragged me along so I could keep up. He never once stabbed me in the back.

Great. So I had someone who I could talk and help me with whatever problems I was having. Now, what was wrong with that? What was wrong with an older brother helping his sister? Absolutely and utterly nothing—if only he didn't _see me through pitied eyes._

To him, he was being nice; he was acting like how a caring, protective older brother should be. And I wasn't complaining because, surely, that had to be better than a brother who discriminated you along with his parents, right?

However, I don't think he realized that what he was doing was actually making the situation worse. Mother and father took this as a chance and saw their son as an even better person. And at some point in my life, I was forced to stand on the sidelines and observe my parents as they slowly got tired and fed up with me and I could only ask: at what point did they stop caring?

_Had they ever cared at all?_

* * *

"_Waah! Waah!"_

That was me, at the age of one. I was begging my brother to play with the new toy he had gotten just a few days ago. It was one of those clapping monkey figures that held symbols in its hands and would make sounds when you wind it up. Every time he spun the dial, the monkey would march towards him, a smile never wavering on his face, and my brother's own face would light up with joy and he would laugh for minutes and minutes non-stop.

I tried my best to lean over and reach for the toy, because I wanted to play with it too, but he moved it further away and eventually, I toppled over on the floor, feeling the tears well up in my eyes and sniffing to hold them back. It was like this every time: my parents would buy him a new toy for smashing all the plates off the dinner table while I had to watch him get cooed and fussed over, not being able to get angry or jealous because I knew that I wouldn't get the same treatment no matter what I did.

And just like all the times before, he gave me a look that said, _Why should I let you play with this? Mom and dad gave it to _me.

* * *

"_Keep going, Hiroki! You can do it!"_

That was me, at one-and-a-half years old, watching as my parents—mother in front of me and father behind me—praised my brother, clapping and cheering as he took his first steps. At first, he stood up awkwardly, wobbling and holding onto the couch desperately, but as time passed, he eventually mastered the art of walking and was running everywhere around the house, experimenting with his legs and feet, seeing how fast they could carry him.

I remembered how father gave him a light push on the first day to help him start on his journey across the living room to where my mother was, with her arms open, smiling widely. I remembered how, when he finally did make it to the destination, he collapsed into mother's arms as she cuddled and kissed him until he fell asleep, completely exhausted from the exercise.

And I couldn't help but think why they hadn't done the same to me, when I had learned to walk a few days later.

* * *

"_Failure."_

That was me, at age two, speaking my first word, my voice pronouncing the harsh word innocently. I heard this word from every inch—every centimetre—of the house; and even my little two-year-old brain could understand that it was addressed to me every single time. Crawling or walking up the stairs, I would hear father mutter it under his breath when he passed by me, while mother would simply ignore me and pretend I didn't even exist. Although I didn't know what it meant exactly, I could tell by his tone of voice that they were mad, angry, disappointed... at me. Often, I would wonder what I had done for them to call me this.

When they heard me say it one afternoon, mother and father exchanged looks over the dinner table and froze in mid-action of feeding Hiroki his pudding snack. First, it started out as snickering, but eventually, they changed to full-on laughing, mother covering her mouth in attempt to stop the giggles from spilling out and father jerking so violently that he knocked over the food and the pudding splattered onto my brother's face.

The house echoed with cries of laughter from my parents and loud, wailing sobs from Hiroki.

It was the first time mother and father ever laughed because of me, and even though I didn't really know what I had said, I felt a sense of pride.

* * *

"_Here," Father's gruff voice interrupted the sound of the TV and Hiroki and I both momentarily turned our attention away from the screen to see him handing me a box. "A puzzle for you to do while your brother and I leave the house for a while."_

That was me, at age three, staring in wonder at what the box that was being offered to me could contain. Hiroki was peering over my shoulder as I hesitantly reached out to grab the item, both of us staring at it like it was some kind of alien material. Father had never given me anything other than things such as food and clothing, so this just might as well be treated as an alienated object.

As I continued to examine the box, I noticed that at some point, Hiroki had been pulled away and he left with our father to go somewhere that I will never know. When he came back, I was sure that he would talk about all the cool things he saw and got to do, but I knew that all the descriptions, no matter how detailed, still wouldn't be the same as experiencing them for myself.

Now, more so than this mysterious box, I couldn't help but wonder where they went that was so confidential that I couldn't even know about.

* * *

_Twin._

That was me, at age four, looking up a new word I had discovered in a simple picture book.

"_A pair; __two__people or__things__ closely related to or closely resembling each other."_

I looked over at my brother Hiroki, who was also reading a book of his own. This was the first time I had closely examined him. We had the same brown hair, the same dark brown eyes, and even the same facial features—if we were the same gender, we would've looked identical. It was almost as if we were a bottle of shampoo; two-in-one. Parts of a whole.

Realization dawned on me and I continued reading the book, even more entranced that I was before. It was then that I concluded: I was a _twin_.

* * *

"_You're such a disappointing, weak, unpleasant, stupid..._ girl!_"_

That was me, at age six, trying desperately not to let my mother's words get to me. She was mad over the fact that I had accidently pushed Hiroki over, causing him to get a big bruise on his leg. He was crying in pain as father placed a wet cloth over the wound so that it wouldn't get infected and mother was glaring at me with eyes that contained so much hatred that I feared my soul would crumple apart.

Muttering a sorry for the billionth time, I scurried away, running to my room and burying my head in the pillow to hide my tears. It was the first time that I had hurt my brother that much and I was scared that he would hate me for the rest of his life. And even though, later, he had told me that it was no big deal, he knew it was an accident, he could still walk perfectly fine, I couldn't help but wonder: maybe this wouldn't have happened if I were a boy... after all, just look at Hiroki; he _never_ made mistakes. Maybe mother and father would've loved me a little more if I had been a boy.

So... why hadn't I been born a boy?

* * *

"_Hurry up! We have to go here and—ooh! Let me show you that; you'll love it!"_

That was me, at age seven, following Hiroki aimlessly around our small town as he pointed at literally everything we passed. It was the first time I've ever left my backyard and father said that from now on, I was only allowed to go outside to run errands for him. Today, though, Hiroki snuck out with me when he noticed me sitting at the window for hours, looking outside and wondering what secrets the world I never stepped into held.

Holding my hand the entire time, he showed me all the shops, the parks, the bus stops, and we even got to eat at a restaurant! There was music, people actually came up to you and brought you the food, which was a nice change from mother's strict rules of feeding yourself, and get this: the waiters even sang happy birthday for the kid who sat in front of us. No one's ever sung me happy birthday except for my brother.

On the way back, Hiroki demonstrated his new-found ability to climb trees. I watched in both awe and envy as he courageously took one step after another until he was at the very peak several feet over the ground, grinning widely and waving down at me. This was my older brother, I realized, who was always a step above me—both figuratively and literally.

When we got back home, father asked where we were, and from one look in his eyes, I could tell that he knew what we've been up to. And I'll never forget what Hiroki did that day—he took the blame all on himself.

* * *

"_That bracelet... every time you look at it, it'll remind you of how you _killed_ me."_

That was me, at the age of ten, staring in shock as mother spoke her last words to me with a pool of blood surrounding her body. I remembered shaking so hard that I thought I would explode, and I stood there, frozen, for a few minutes before I let out an ear-piercing scream that woke up the whole house.

I could've done something, I realized all too late. I could've _saved_ her.

But I had been too scared. The aura the assassin let out was too menacing and the minute I stepped into the room, just in time to witness mother's heart being pulled out of her body, I dropped onto my knees. In less than a second, she had died and I was completely and utterly useless.

When father finally arrived after what seemed like eternity, I was shoved aside as he tried to do all sorts of things to save her, but it was no good; she was already gone.

My wrist was glowing with the curse that mother implanted onto me. I tried pulling, biting, cutting, and I even got father to attempt ripping it off with _Nen_, but nothing worked.

The bracelet was here to stay—forever.

* * *

"_You can't bring back the dead, not matter how hard you try."_

That was me, learning an important lesson. Mother was gone and all this time, father had taken out his anger on me, saying that everything was my fault, that if I had done something _sooner_, something _better_, something _helpful_, all of this could've been prevented. Or, at least, begged until the assassin killed me instead of her, because I was a nothing while she was half of father's entire life—the other half being Hiroki.

The worst part was... I think I was starting to believe everything father said.

* * *

"_Mom... mom—come back!"_

That was me, crying over my mother's death at her funeral. But a part of me knew that I wasn't actually sad that she died; I was just scared of what father would do to me afterwards. After all, her death meant one less person to verbally abuse me with.

And I realized that everything they said had been right—I was a selfish jerk.

A failure.

* * *

"_Father, _please!_ Just listen to me!"_

That was me, a few days after mother's death, practically _begging_ my dad to even acknowledge me. After all that happened a few nights before, father wouldn't even look at me properly anymore—it was as if I had become an alien who was only allowed to stay in the house because it was technically illegal to just throw me away.

Since then, father's eyes had been clouded, but the coldness in them didn't go away; instead, they intensified. I'll never forget the look of hatred he sent my way when I came down the stairs for breakfast in the morning; and I'll never forget what he said to me a few days later, when everything finally got to him and he snapped:

"_Just—just shut up! You're such a failure; you couldn't even save your own mother!"_

And that was the last time I ever talked.

* * *

_Selectively mute._

That was me, a day after I have taken the vow of silence. The two words rang through my head repetitively. When I was younger, I had thought that being a selective mute was a stupid idea because, well, if you had a voice, then why not use it?

But now I understood all too well.

It was easier to do than I had expected.

* * *

"_Hiroki and... child." Father looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Come with me. It's time for you to learn _Nen_."_

That was me, a few weeks after mother's incident, trying not to flinch at the name he now called me. After that night—the night of mother's death—father lost the little respect he had for me and I was being treated like trash. I saw Hiroki glance my way, eyes filled with pity, as he grabbed my hand, squeezing it slightly to reassure me, and dragged me along, forcing me to follow him and father to the backyard.

Wordlessly, I walked behind my brother, almost like a shadow. I was a no-one now; nothing but extra baggage to carry around. Hiroki was the only one who really understood; he _had_ to understand. We were siblings, after all—_twins. _

He was the only one I could turn to; I had no one else.

* * *

"_Nice to meet you."_

That was me, a few minutes later, being introduced to a _Nen_ teacher that father had hired. Before father left us alone, he turned to me and said that if I were to do well in something in life, it had to be _Nen_ so that I could prevent what happened on That Night. The only response I had given him was looking away, ashamed.

Weeks later, both Hiroki and I had mastered the basics of _Nen_ and we were ready to find out which category our _Nen_ belonged to. Walking up to the glass of water, I gently placed my hands around it and performed _Ren_.

Moss sprouted from the bottom of the glass.

* * *

_Zoldyck._

That was me, a few months later, musing over the new name that had suddenly been thrown at me not so long ago. They were a family of assassins who took on missions to kill anyone without a second thought if they were paid the right amount of money, father had explained with absolute hatred in his eyes.

"_They were the ones who killed your mother."_

After hearing that, I felt Hiroki stiffen beside me and when I turned to look at him, I saw that his teeth were gritted tightly, hands curled into lethal fists shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes had the same clouded look as father's. At the mention of mother's killer, he had turned from my loving twin brother to a monster who I no longer knew what he was capable of doing.

And right there, I promised myself that I would ever let him come across a Zoldyck.

* * *

"_You two will be attending the Hunter Exam."_

That was me, at age eleven, staring at my father in shock. I had lived with one simple rule my whole life: listen to whatever father said and if I hadn't been given permission to do something, I didn't do it. That being said, the first thing he had told me was to never take even a step outside our front door unless it was to run errands or buy groceries.

Now, let me tell you: I was not a rule breaker.

Although this new request wasn't a violation of the first rule, it shattered the second one into a millions pieces and completely flushed it down the toilet.

* * *

_Father stared at me, eyes narrowed. "You'll never pass the Exam."_

That was me, now, at age twelve, ready to completely give up.

And the answer to the question from before? _Had they ever cared?_

It was quite obvious, actually: no. Not from the moment I was born, not while I was growing up, and certainly not now. And even if I begged, cried, threw tantrums like a five-year-old, the cold, hard truth was that they never will.

* * *

**A/N: **I... feel so proud of this chapter. I think this is going to be my favourite chapter in the entire story, unless some miracle happens. Just personal favourite, that's all.

I know this is a prologue and everything and it's supposed to be short, but future chapters will also be about this length. I just have difficulty writing long chapters, okay? Shut up. I'm working on it.

So hints about Hiyori's _Nen_. Just reminding you guys that any impurities that appear—in this case, the moss—means that the user is a Conjurer. More hints to come in the next few chapters.

Reviews are very much appreciated. :D

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which a bet is originated, Hiyori and Hiroki enter a fancy building, and Killua is somewhat introduced.

~Madin456. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KILLUA!)


	2. Weirdo

**A/N: **Guysss, thank you so much for favouriting, following, and most of all, reviewing! I know that there are a _lot_ of KilluaxOC stories out there, so thanks for giving this a chance. :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 2: Weirdo

"Are you up for a challenge?"

Tearing my eyes away from the flashy buttons of the elevator that I have taken a sudden interest in for the past few minutes, I turned to face my brother with an eyebrow raised and curiosity dancing in my orbs. Shaking off the hood of my red sweater that was clearly one size too big for me, I let my light brown hair flow out as I waited for him to elaborate, an eyebrow raised in undeniable curiosity.

"I was thinking, since father said people who take the Hunter Exam usually don't know _Nen_, we could refrain from using our _Nen_. We'll stick to hand-to-hand combat and whatever weapons we happen to pick up and you can only use your _Nen_ for communication. Just to make things a little more interesting," he explained, smirking. "What do you think?"

Now _that_ piqued my interest. It wasn't everyday that I got challenged and Hiroki and I were pretty evenly matched, so I _was_ kind of curious to see who the victor would be. But... not using _Nen_ meant that there was more of a possibility we could die. For real.

In the end, I couldn't help but return my brother's grin and nod excitedly. Because what was a bet without a danger aspect to it? There was no way was I going to lose.

And so it was settled.

Both of us wouldn't use _Nen_ at all during the length of the exam, even if we were about to die. Our egos were too big for us to run away from the challenge; our pride too strong for us to let the other witness our failure. And the prize? Because there had to be some kind of motivation behind all of this. And let me tell you, it was the most satisfying thing out there: bragging rights.

That's right: the two of us were going to put our lives in danger for a chance to gloat about our victory. It sounded absurd, it was undeniably immature of us, it was kind of crazy—but it would be fun and that was all I could really ask for.

The _ding_ of the elevator indicated that we had arrived at the designated place. Sucking in a deep breath, I dusted my blue shorts and picked up my backpack, swinging it across my shoulder and positioned it comfortably on my back, but not before taking out the numbered pin that we had been given earlier and sticking it on the outside of my sweater. It was official: I was now a soon-to-be hunter.

The doors opened and the two of us stepped out together, taking the first step in unison. The exam building was exactly how you'd imagine an old, ancient building with some fancy decorations stuck onto it like it was done by architectures who couldn't quite make up their minds on how they wanted everything to look—completely weird, hard to take in, and more than a little out-of-place.

But above all that, this place was a freaking _castle_.

All the doors and windows had this cool, curved, spiral design that looped around them like everything was a fancy picture frame. To our right, there was a set of spiral stairs that led you up glamorously to the next floor, as if only celebrities were allowed to walk there. The building itself gave off the vibe that it was so strong, yet so fragile at the same time.

Glancing around the room we were currently in, I noticed that it was packed with other examinees and, in a matter of seconds, Hiroki and I successfully determined that, just like father said, none of these people knew how to use _Nen_ in the slightest. A smirk made its way across my face and a boast of confidence flooded through me. They should just hand over the hunter licence and tell everyone to leave because this might as well be a piece of—

Hiroki and I both froze at the same time and exchanged looks.

—_Whoa. _

Near the back of the room stood a petite girl with long, pink hair tied back into two messy pigtails. She jumped onto a large cardboard box, and boy, did she give out a strong aura. She dressed so casually—shorts, a T-shirt, and no shoes for some reason—that I would've never guessed that she was this strong if we hadn't done a check on everyone here. This girl was a classic example of "don't judge people by their appearance."

The girl cleared her voice. "Alright guys!" When no one paid any attention to her, she tried again, this time speaking louder. "Everyone!" She frowned and clenched her hands into fists when she realized that she had been ignored yet again. She stomped her feet on the box, causing the ground to shake. "WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND LISTEN?!"

It worked. The chatter in the room halted. Eyes shifted in her direction. But everyone was looking at her in frustration and in a matter seconds, the crowd erupted with cries anger.

"Shut up, kid!"

"Don't boss us around!"

"Who the hell are you, Shorty?"

It was evident that the last comment ticked her off. (Though I had to admit, she _was_ kind of short... especially if she had to stand on a cardboard box to be on level with everyone else.) She glared at the person who spoke and jumped off the box she had been standing on, landing a direct kick on his stomach with her foot. The man was thrown back all the way to the wall and everyone backed away, immediately shutting their mouths when they saw her strength.

"Who are you calling short? My name is Gemmei Tateno, not Shorty!"

The man narrowed his eyes at her—or tried to—but it wasn't very effective since he started coughing up blood after and groaned from the pain. I could tell that he wanted to talk back, but he restrained himself and made the right choice, knowing that he was in no condition to say anything unless he wanted to get beat up again.

However, he slowly started to gather his strength and got up to charge at her—a rather stupid decision on his part—but with lightning speed, Gemmei was in front of him with her foot at his chest. His eyes widened in surprise and his legs gave out, resulting in him stumbling back and landing on his bottom. Gemmei kept her foot there until he gave up and admitted defeat after cursing colourfully.

Such a strong kick could only be done with the help of _Nen_.

But to do something like that upon meeting someone for the first time had to mean that she was completely and utterly nuts. Crazy. Whacko.

Beside me, I heard my brother let out a soft whistle, clearly impressed. "I really hope we don't have someone like her as our examiner..." Hiroki leaned over and whispered to me, running a hand though his shaggy brown hair. I nodded courtly back in response.

Everyone's attention turned back to Gemmei as she walked back to the front of the crowd and faced us once again, wiping the dust off her pants as if she had just touched something filthy. Sighing, she spoke again and this time, no one dared to interrupt her.

"For those of you who didn't know," she jerked her chin up and placed her hands on her hips, looking prideful, "I'm your examiner for the first phase of the Hunter Exam."

Silence filled the room. It took a few minutes for us to let all that sink in. Everyone was surprised, but no one accused her of lying in fear of what would become of them if they even _breathed_ wrongly.

Hiroki jinxed it. He totally jinxed it.

I sighed and stuffed my hands into my pockets. _We have a crazy, hot-headed examiner who didn't even hesitate to beat up a stranger for the first phase... Great. _

She continued, "For your first test, you are to escape this building."

Murmurs erupted throughout the crowd with people asking, _Isn't that too easy?_ Hiroki glanced at me, confusion in his eyes as well. I shrugged and placed a finger to my lips just as he was about to voice his opinion, motioning for him to be quite as Gemmei went on explaining in further detail.

"The elevator that you took to get up here will be shut down. You're allowed to use any method you want as long as you get out. The only thing you will be given is a map of the building and you only have five hours; if you take longer than five hours, you'll automatically be eliminated and, well, come back next year." When she was done handing out the maps to everyone, she got on the elevator. Just as the doors closed, she said, "I'll be waiting for you at the bottom. Good luck, everyone!"

Everyone stood there puzzled for a while before the crowd slowly dispersed. I blinked. Wait, what? The exam had started already? I thought that we'd have time to just sit down and relax, you know, drink some tea and maybe even take a nap. This—this was too abrupt!

Eventually, Hiroki and I decided to leave as well. We took a step in a random direction and—

"Hey, you guys are rookies, right?" A man walked up to us and asked with a smile. The first thing I noticed about him was that he had a rather... large nose. A large, square nose. It was almost as if he had a boxing match and got punched right in the middle of his face, flattening his nose. "Do you want to go together as a group? It will be safer this way, and I can tell you a little bit about our opponents if you want. I've done the Hunter Exam multiple times already so I could at least inform you about the returning examinees."

... Well, I guess that was a good skill to have, in its own way. Knowledge was always important, though I was kind of sceptical of him when he said that he had gone through the exam several times and still didn't pass. However, teaming up did seem like a good idea.

"Sure!" Hiroki agreed immediately. I nodded to show that I welcomed him as well.

The box-nosed man grinned and shook our hands vigorously, really relieved that we accepted. "What are you names? I'm Tonpa." He jabbed a thumb towards himself.

"Hiroki," my brother returned the smile. "And this is my sister, Hiyori." Tonpa smiled at me and shook my hand, a kind gesture, and despite his square nose, I concluded that he wasn't a bad person.

As we started walking around the building in a random direction, I noticed that all the walls and rooms were built exactly the same, probably to confuse us. And it was working. In a matter of minutes, we were completely lost. It felt like we had gone nowhere, even though we probably walked through the entire first floor.

To the right of us, a group of people were trying to break through the wall with an axe and some other weapons, but to no avail; they didn't even manage to make a dent. I sighed. If only it was that easy.

On the map that we were handed, some rooms had a red X marked on them, which probably meant that there was something bad in them or we weren't allowed to go in. I thought about this and wondered if Gemmei was actually nice enough to just freely give out this information to us. I mean, wasn't the whole point to test our abilities? Which then led to the question: how trustworthy was she really?

"I think we should make sure if this map is accurate," Hiroki stopped and said the words right out of my mouth; this whole twin-telepathy thing even seemed creepy to me sometimes. Tonpa agreed eagerly and we headed towards the closest room marked with an X, which was up the stairs and on the third floor.

From the outside, the room was definitely nothing different: same door, same design, even the doorknob looked identical to the other ones. For the most part, it seemed safe, we had concluded. So, reluctantly, after exchanged nervous glances with each other, Hiroki reached out a hand and placed it on the doorknob. Hesitating, he took a deep breath and turned it, opening the door and walked in—

"Hold on!" Tonpa pulled my brother back just as he was about to take a step into the room. And, okay, I know it was a little mean to think of this towards someone I quite literally just met a few minutes ago, but _what was he doing_? This was our chance to gather information!

When I turned to question him, I saw that he was pointing to the bottom of the room. Or lack of a bottom, I should say, because there was actually no floor; it was just a giant, open pit that was who knows how deep. Hiroki quickly jumped back and retreated his foot, clinging onto his savoir.

"Thank you, Tonpa! I would've been a goner!" My brother sounded really relieved.

And _oh my god_, this square-nosed man just _saved our lives_.

I had been wrong. Tonpa just was looking out for us—I had been so, so wrong. I caught his eye as we walked back the way we came from, sending a smile his way to know that I was grateful for what he did. He reacted to my gesture of kindness with a surprised expression before grinning back and I thought I might've just made my first ever friend. It was a good feeling.

We started making our way down the hall in another direction, seeing we got to a dead end and confirmed that the map was accurate. My head was down, examining the map further trying to find a clue on how to get out, when—

"_Ouch!_ Watch where you're going!"

I looked up to see a boy around my age with spiky silver hair and aqua blue eyes, rubbing his arm and glaring at me as if bumping into him was a crime and he expected me to be on my knees begging for forgiveness. When I gave him an apologetic smile, he simply scoffed.

I arched an eyebrow. What was wrong with _him_?

His friends walked up from behind and apologized for his rude behaviour. I bid them goodbye before walking away and going to join up with my brother and Tonpa. I could feel the silver-haired boy's stare on my back all the way until I reach the end of the hallway. Finally, he turned and started walked away in the other direction, but not before muttering one word that was loud enough for me to hear:

"Weirdo."

* * *

**A/N: **And... Killua has been introduced! (Rather anti-climatically, but introduced nonetheless.)

Okay, information time: Tonpa will be the only person, aside from Gon's group, who will be appearing at the Hunter Exam. That means no Hisoka, Illumi, or anyone else. Think of this as a completely different exam on a completely different year with completely different examinees and examiners. (Because, quite frankly, I'm tired of reading a whole bunch of HXH stories where authors basically just rewrite what happened in the anime.)

And also, not every OC is going to be wary of Tonpa from the moment they step into the exam. Not every OC is going to be able to sniff out that he's secretly plotting against them. _Not every OC is going to hate Tonpa upon their first meeting. _Especially not Hiyori because she's been locked up inside her house her whole life and she wants to make friends. So yeah.

Once again, thank you to Reeyachan for beta-ing this. :D And leave a review! (Because you all love reviewing, right?)

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which Kurapika talks about an underground civilization, a giant pile of pillows is found, and Killua calls Hiyori weird about five more times.

~Madin456.


	3. Tunnels, Shoes, and Dead Grass

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 3: Tunnels, Shoes, and Dead Grass

It was peaceful for exactly five seconds.

After that, we were being chased by a rabid dog.

"RUUUUN!" A scream came from the hallway to our left and we stopped in our tracks to see four people dashing towards us, waving their arms widely to warn us of the dog behind them. At first, the three of us—Hiroki, Tonpa, and I—didn't know what was going on, didn't know how to react. But the minute we saw the sharp-teethed, oversized canine rapidly approaching us, we turned on our heels as quickly as we could and sprinted back the way we came from, desperately trying not to get a part of our bodies bitten off.

The hallway seemed to be longer than it had been a few minutes ago and reaching the end seemed like nothing but a fantasy; meanwhile, the dog was catching up with every ticking second until, and at one point, it would've bitten my leg off if my brother hadn't yanked me forward, out of its reach. My heart was pounding like crazy and my biggest worry at the moment was not becoming dog food.

Finally, we reached the end of the hall, turned the corner, and opened the door to the first room we saw before locking ourselves inside. Someone had to grab my arm to prevent me from falling into the giant hole that was in the middle of the room.

Great.

We just happened to get stuck in a room marked X.

After taking a moment to catch our breath, Hiroki eyed the door where the dog was barking like crazy and still trying claw its way in, and asked, "Okay, what the hell was _that_?"

The blonde-haired boy who had been running with us crossed his arms and sent a sharp look at one of his friends, the one holding a suitcase. "Leorio opened one of the doors marked X—right after we told him that it would be a bad idea—and released the dog that was inside. We didn't mean to get you guys involved." He sighed almost as if he was used to this kind of behaviour and it was just another everyday occurrence.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know what was inside without opening the door?" Leorio tried to defend himself. "Did _you_ know that a rabid dog was waiting on the other side, Kurapika?"

"Well, no," Kurapika frowned and crossed his arms, "but considering that we've encountered laser-shooting robots, a creepy clown who threw cards like knives, vemenous snakes, bees, and other deadly animals, it would only be logical to be cautious before opening another one of those doors."

"'_Don't worry, guys,'_ he said, _'what are the chances of there being something else dangerous inside,'_ he said," the silver-haired boy interjected, hands casually placed in his pockets, mocking the older man.

Leorio opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to have accepted his defeat and decided against it. Despite the situation we were currently in, I had the strange urge to laugh. I saw Hiroki grinning too.

"Gon! Help me out here," Leorio said desperately. "You wanted to open the door too!"

The boy in green blinked and smiled. "Yeah. I was curious to see what was inside."

"_See!_" Leorio cried and patted Gon's shoulder approvingly. "It wasn't just me!"

"Well… what do we do now?" Hiroki wondered aloud, interrupting them when he saw Kurapika sighing a second time, an indication that he was getting irritated. "There's a rabid dog outside the room and a giant hole _in_ the room. We don't have anywhere to go."

"We could wait until the dog leaves?"

The rest of us exchanged looks. The dog was still barking ferociously on the other side of the door and showed no intension of giving up. Who knew how long _that_ would take?

"Oh, I know! I know!" Gon waved his hand in the air enthusiastically, as if waiting to be picked on to answer a question in a classroom. "We could jump down the hole."

All twelve pairs of eyes turned to the spiky-haired boy dressed in green in shock, looking at him as if fire just spewed out his mouth. He was, to put it as nicely as possible, strange; his hair stood straight up and seemed to defy gravity and of all things, he held a _fishing rod_ in his hands. The boy scratched the back of his neck nervously at all the attention. "I mean, if we go outside, we'll have to face the dog. It'll be a lot quicker if we jump down and I'm sure we can take on whatever's at the bottom."

There was a moment of silence while everyone continued to stare at him. Leorio was the first to react; he grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Are you _stupid_, Gon? We'd be jumping into our potential doom!" On the spiky-haired boy's other side, I noticed that Killua was eyeing him with interest, as if the thought of Gon suggesting to jump intrigued him.

"He's right," Tonpa spoke up for the first time. "Look at how deep that hole is. Who knows where we'd end up!"

To his right Kurapika had his arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed and bit his lip in deep thought. "Leorio, lend me your shoe for a second."

"M-my _shoe_?" Leorio's eyes widened in surprise, mouth hanging open. He sputtered out a few incomprehensible sounds. "I—wha—_why_?"

The blond sighed in exasperation. "Just hand it over. I want to test something out."

Looking at his friend in disbelief, the man reluctantly took off one shoe and passed it over to Kurapika. Eyes narrowed, he cautioned, "You better not do anything bad to it—"

Without warning, Kurapika chucked the shoe down the hole.

"—_MY SHOE!"_

Kurpaika quickly shushed him with a wave of a hand. He knelt down in front of the entrance of the tunnel in complete silence and listened, watching the darkness intensely. Not long after that, while Leorio was still mumbling to himself about the loss of his shoe, we all heard a faint _plop_ and everyone's eyes lit up. Hiroki and I exchanged looks.

"It seems like the tunnel isn't that deep," Kurapika did the honours of announcing the good news to everyone, shutting Leorio up. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I say we do as Gon suggested. Potential doom is better than getting eaten by a dog and dooming ourselves for sure. Who knows," he chuckled to himself, "maybe we'll get lucky and the hole will lead us to an underground civilization where the people there could show us a secret passageway out of the building and help us pass the Hunter Exam. What do you guys think?"

Gon beamed. "Let's do it!"

Killua shrugged, trying to stifle the sounds of his giggles at Leorio's horrified reaction. "Why not?"

Hiroki and I glanced over at each other. None of us expected the Hunter Exam to be anything like this, but we weren't complaining; plus, I haven't seen Hiroki smile this widely in a long time. It was an effect that Gon seemed to have on people because I found myself grinning too. The idea to jump was absurd and ridiculous and completely over the roof—but it just might work. "Okay," my brother said. Then, more playfully, he added, "but if anything happens to us, you're responsible!"

Now all that was left was Leorio. He was pacing around, seemingly in an internal debate with himself and eventually, he threw his hands up into the air and let out a grunt. "Oh, fine! Let's go retrieve my shoe."

"It's decided, then," Kurapia smiled.

And so, the seven of us stood around the hole in a circle and did the most logical thing:

We jumped.

* * *

Well, not quite.

"Wait, hold on," Tonpa spoke up for the first time since our discussion started, arms crossed. He had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten that he was there. "Count me out; you guys are all crazy. If you want to suicide, go ahead, but I'm not following you into a death wish." He walked over to the corner of the room and sat down stubbornly. "I'll just wait here for the dog to leave."

The rest of us glanced at the door and saw that the claws of the dog almost reached the inside, the door close to breaking down, which meant that in a matter of minutes, we would be vulnerable and there would be nowhere left to run. "Are you sure?" Hiroki asked. When Tonpa nodded, my brother shrugged and said, "Alright, good luck then."

I had kind of hoped that he would come along with us—he _had_ saved our lives, after all. And maybe, during one of the other phases of the exam, we could've repaid him that favour. I snuck a peak back at him and couldn't help but feel a little worried. _No,_ I thought, _he made a choice and I have to focus right now._

We all turned our attention back to the hole in front of us. "Waaait," Leorio shouted suddenly, glancing around, e vidently nervous about this. "Do we, like, hold hands or something?"

We all looked at each other and somewhat reluctantly, somewhat willingly, took hold of each other's hands. In my right hand, I felt the familiar feeling of Hiroki's fingers wrap around mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze, and in my left hand was the white-haired boy's surprisingly warm palm.

And finally, on the count of three, all of us stepped into the long tunnel of darkness.

* * *

When the fall ended, I had expected us to come speeding down with a **CRASH** and possibly breaking some bones in the process.

Instead, it was more of a... _plop_. And rather anti-climatic.

I was definitely disappointed that there was, in fact, no underground civilization like Kurapika's theory suggested, but at least we didn't die, so there wasn't really much to complain about.

At the bottom of the hole was a ridiculously large pile of pillows and Styrofoam. However, thanks to the mountain of pillows and Styrofoam, all of us were able to land somewhat comfortably with only minor injuries. Leorio, of course, was hugging this shoe as if it was his lifeline. From the corner of my eye, I saw him rub his shoe against his face and was momentarily disgusted because who knew how dirty that could be?

Ignoring Leorio, the rest of us made our way out of the mountain—some of us walking, some of us crawling, some of us _swimming_—and surprisingly found ourselves on the first floor of the building. I looked around to see that everyone else's mouth hung open and their eyes were wide like mine and wondered, _What was going on?_

As we walked out of the front door, Menchi was there to greet us. "Congratulations, guys! You all just passed the first phase of the exam—and with half an hour to spare!"

I stared at her, mouth open, gaping. I blinked. I looked back at the others. And then, a smile started to form on my face.

After her statement finally registered in our heads, everyone jumped up and cheered. I watched the boys' eyes light up as they high-fived and hugged each other and I thought that maybe this just might be even _better_ than finding an underground civilization. To celebrate happily with everyone like this—it was a good feeling.

Slowly, we all composed ourselves and settled down under a tree to pass time until the second phase would start. Real, proper introductions were exchanged and this time, there was no crazy dog chasing after us. I listened to Hiroki talk with Leorio, Kurapika, and Gon especially for a while before I leaned back and rested my head on the trunk of the tree, eyes closed, tuning the world out. It was peaceful just sitting there, feeling a breeze pass by every now and then, realizing just how exhausted and worn out I really was from all that running.

So when I felt a poke on my shoulder the first time, I hardly even noticed it. The second time, I thought it was simply someone brushing against me by accident. The third time, however, I knew it was no coincidence and either someone was trying to get my attention, or they were trying—and succeeding—to be annoying. It turned out to be the latter because a few seconds later, _I felt someone's cold breath on my neck._

Shocked, my eyelids fluttered open, my entire body jerking awake. It took me a while for to register what was in front of me and when my eyes finally adjusted to the harsh sunlight, I saw Killua grinning evilly at me, legs crossed with his hands behind his head. He looked as if he was attempting to act innocent after pulling off the world's biggest prank: his light blue eyes revealed a gleam of mischief and his smile threatened to take over his entire face.

"Hey, you're alive," he said and even though I was mortified and it was hard to resist the urge to smack him, I looked up, forcing myself to smile a little and at least pretend that I was somewhat social and not just completely awkward. I gave him a hesitant wave. "I thought you were dead."

Dead or alive aside, let's get to the main issue here: did he seriously just _blow_ on me?!

It would've been fine if he just squirted water on me or something, but this was his _breath_ that came from his _lungs_ and possibly contained his _saliva_. I wiped furiously at my neck to try to remove whatever that could've gotten on me. Even a cat's hairball wasn't this disgusting.

He watched me struggle with an amused smile as if he was satisfied that he finally got a reaction out of me. In turn, I glared at him and pulled out a handful of grass and threw it at him, feeling proud that I wiped the smirk off his face and he was now flailing his arms to remove the grass that got stuck on his shirt.

"Gaah!" Killua chocked and spat out some leaves from his mouth, wiping his tongue with his sleeve. "What was that for?"

Shrugging, I found myself suppressing a smile. I continued to pull out grass until there was an unhealthy pile of dead weeds beside me. The white-haired boy sat down in front of me and watched me, seemingly interested in observing how I was murdering blades of grass.

"So what did the grass ever do to make you give it an early death like this?" His half-lidded eyes bore into mine, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards to form a lopsided smirk. "Weirdo."

I stopped in mid-action. He had called me that before too, when I bumped into him in the building and was about to apologize. Looking up, I locked eyes with him, my brown orbs staring into his cool teal ones. He stared back, somewhat curious, and eventually, I tore my gaze away before it got too awkward. A smug expression manifested on his face, as if it had been a staring contest and he had just won and for some reason, I was beginning to feel kind of irritated.

I continued pulling out grass, waiting until he got bored—because _everyone_ got bored of me eventually—and decided to leave, but that didn't happen. He was burning a hole into my head and he just kept on watching as if he had nothing better to do. Frowning, my actions got faster and the pile of grass beside me increased drastically.

Killua called me weird, but _he_ had been the one who came here to watch me pull out grass. _He _had been the one who spoke as if the grass deserved a funeral or something. _He_ was the one making me suddenly feel self-conscious, as if his examining eyes could see all the way into my core and dissect me apart within seconds. And _he_ was the one who actually blew on me to wake me up.

If anything, _he_ was the weird one here.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him once again and frowned because he was _still_ staring, _still_ sitting there without muttering a word, and I couldn't help but feel fidgety when he just continued looking at me with the same emotionless, almost bored, expression.

When he finally spoke up, he was blunt. "Do you ever _talk_?"

It took all of my willpower to not flinch. That, however, didn't stop my eyes from widening or my hands from trembling slightly. I stared back at him in shock, my mouth opening and closing to say something, but not a peep came out—of course, what else did I expect? I was _mute_.

For the first time since the Hunter Exam started, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a notebook and pen. Flipping open the cover page, I rested the pen in between my fingers and clicked it open, feeling the familiar sensation of the cold metal in my hand. It felt like forever since I'd used the pen and I felt myself relaxing at the sight of the shiny, black ink.

'_No,' _I wrote. _'I don't talk.'_

I had really hoped that people would just sort of accept the fact that I was mute and move on with their lives instead of asking me about it so suddenly—so _rudely_—like Killua did. Guess people weren't as nice as I thought they were; I should've known not to expect too much or get my hopes up. But there really was no point in hiding it, especially if he figured it out already.

Killua stared at the notebook for a long time, eyebrows furrowed, as if he was trying to decipher a code. His eyes scanned it over and over again, almost as if he didn't believe what I had written there while I was left in the suspense to wait for his reaction.

"... You really _are_ weird," he said finally.

I smiled bitterly and leaned back. Of course. What else did I expect, considering that that was basically all he said to me so far, since the exam started. This was, what, the third time he called me weird in five hours? Let's see if we can break the record and reach twenty by tomorrow—not.

'_Is that all you have to say?' _At least his reply wasn't as bad as it could've been. At least he didn't list out a string of insults.

He raised an eyebrow at me, his usual smug smirk already back on his lips. "Oh, did you want me to add some more? Alright..." He drew in a deep breath and exhaled. "Mute, inferior, unapologetic, odd, stuuupid—"

I spoke too soon.

'_STOP.' _I interrupted, groaning. I was definitely not in the mood to listen to him while he happily went on listing insults about me; I didn't even think it was _possible_ to have so many insults about someone you met only a few hours ago. I would have none of this. At least, not unless I got to insult him back.

'_My turn.' _Scribbling furiously, I wrote down the worst put-downs I knew. _'Unpleasant, ugly, jerk, rude, disrespectful, bastard!'_

Killua was silent for a moment, as if he didn't believe I was capable of countering him. Well, I guess I sort of understood his surprise because I _did_ look a little more "fragile" than normal twelve-year-olds and my skin _was_ paler than what most people would expect a healthy skin tone to be and my hands _were_ always cold to the point where people wondered if I was secretly cold-blooded, _but_ none of that meant I was a weak, _oh-please-save-me-mister_, delicate girl who couldn't stand up for herself.

The boy seemed to have recovered from the shock and grinned. "Guess you weren't as bad as I thought you were, even if you _are_ still a weirdo."

The corners of my lips tugged downwards. What did _that_ mean?

Before I could scowl or question him, though, I noticed that something was off. In fact, the feeling of something wrong had been tingling throughout my body for a while now, my internal senses going off like crazy, tendrils of wrong, wrong, _wrong_ coursing through me. Eyes darting around quickly, I motioned for Killua to stop talking as I felt goose bumps beginning to form on my arm with the sudden atmosphere change.

No one was here.

Everyone—the examiner, the other examinees, Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hiroki—had disappeared.

Everyone was... **gone**.

* * *

Hunter Exam Phase 1—Start: 437 Examinees Entered

Hunter Exam Phase 1—Finish: 125 Examinees Remaining

* * *

**A/N: **Kudos to anyone who got the references of other HXH characters in this chapter. ;)

What did you guys think of the first phase? Killua's and Hiyori's interaction? Anything you liked, anything I could improve on? Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated!

**NEXT CHAPTER:** In which Hiyori and Killua are lost, Hiyori gains an unwanted nickname, and they meet Snake Man.

~Madin456.


	4. Lost and Found

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Hunter X Hunter.**_

Chapter 4: Lost and Found

"… You're kidding me."

Killua glanced at me with an incredulous look before turning his attention towards the forest in front of us then back at me, his eyes wide and mouth open in surprise. He stood up from his previous sitting position and slowly retreated a hand from his pocket, combing it through his silver-white hair and kicked angrily at the ground. His eyes met mine, narrowed into a glare. "You're kidding," he said again, as if repeating it would take us out of this situation.

I only wished that was the case.

When I shook my head regretfully at his statement, he muttered a string of curses under his breath and stomped at the ground, scattering a colony of ants that had gathered close to him. "I can't believe this!" Killua cried out in frustration, huffing. "Everyone's gone! All the other examinees left for the next phase while I was talking to you!" He had been talking to himself, ranting as if I wasn't standing right in front of him; and now, it was as if he suddenly remembered that I existed again. "_You!_ While you were going on and on—insulting me nonetheless—I got distracted and now we're lost! And left behind!"

I frowned. Oh, so now it was all my fault? He came up to me and freaking _blew on my neck_—yeah, I was never going to forget about that—and started a war to see who could come up with the worst insult and called me _weird_ but nooo, we were currently in this situation because of _me_. Was there anything else he'd like to add to Blame-Hiyori-For-Everything Day?

Sighing, I wrote, _'Yeah, yeah. You can stand here and blame me all you want but I'm going to find Hiroki and the others again. I'm not going to fail this exam just because I got lost. So, you coming?'_

He made a _tch_ sound but followed me anyway. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he walked half a step behind me, muttering to himself as if I needed a reminder of how unhappy he was to be stuck with me. "So how do you plan on finding them, Yori? Do you have some kind of genius plan?"

I paused in my tracks. _'Of course I have a—wait, did you just call me... Yori?'_

He turned on his heels. "What's the big deal? That's your name, isn't it?"

'Hi_yori. My name is Hiyori.' _I frowned; it wasn't a hard name to remember. It was pretty common, too.

The white-haired boy shrugged nonchalantly. "Same difference. Plus, Hiyori has a whole extra syllable; Yori's easier to remember. So I'm going to call you Yori from now on." He smirked. "Now that that's settled, what's your plan?"

I deadpanned. _'Just... shut up for a moment, will you?' _And, of course, Killua had to open his mouth to protest, but I put a finger to his lips and the words died in his throat. Looking up at him, I was surprised that a simple finger was enough to actually make him fall silent. His eyes were wide and he was staring directly at my hand. It was then that I realized _my finger was on his lips_ and I could feel his slightly staggered breath on my skin.

Cheeks flushed, I quickly retreated my hand as he took multiple steps back. "_Ew_, now I have all of your germs on me," he whined, as if to say, _You have cooties. _

I waved my arms around, trying to show that it was an accident. Flustered. Embarrassed. _'S-sorry. Just—just be quiet for a moment.'_

This time, he didn't object. After a few seconds, I forced myself to calm down and focused my attention on finding the others. Closing my eyes, I gathered a concentrated amount of aura to my eyes and prepared to use _Gyo_. I could feel the power flowing through me, the long deprived sensation of _Nen_ coursing through my body like tendrils, and I felt oddly peaceful, despite the fact that _Nen_ was used mostly in combat.

Now came the hard part: the execution. It wasn't like I was inexperienced with using _Gyo_; I had performed the technique many times and it was almost like second nature now. It was more of the mental challenge I was worried about. Because the minute I opened my eyes, the minute I used _Nen_ of any kind, I would lose the bet I made with Hiroki and he would no doubt remember this for the rest of his life. The blow on my pride would be hard.

On the other hand, I couldn't think of another way to locate the rest of the group. And if I couldn't find them, then not only I but Killua would fail the exam too. Sure, he was kind of annoying at times but it wasn't like I hated him and I definitely didn't dislike him enough to want him to fail.

I took a deep breath. My pride.

Exhale. Passing the Hunter Exam.

Inhale. Winning the bet.

Exhale. _Killua._

My eyes opened.

That's right: Killua was waiting. It wasn't worth it, I thought, to make him fail with me. Right now, I needed to focus on getting us out of this situation. I looked around the area, taking in all the trees and bushes and animals and from the corner of my eye, in my peripheral vision, I saw something. It flowed in sort of a zig-zag and disappeared behind a tall tree. It was a trial, I realized.

Not a physical path that we could walk on, but a trail of _Nen_.

There, to the right, the examiner had conveniently left a trial of _Nen_, as if Gemmei knew that people would get lost and gave them a chance to regroup if they only looked hard enough. This was almost too easy.

It was my turn to smirk. _'This way,'_ I told Killua, grabbed his hand, and led him along.

* * *

_As Killua followed the brown-haired girl in front of him, he found himself extremely confused. Frowning and deep in thought, he must have subconsciously squeezed her hand because she stopped walking for a split second to turn towards him and send him a questioning look. He quickly lowered his gaze and looked away._

_This didn't make any sense. None of it added up properly._

_How did she possibly figure out where the others were?_

_Killua may have been complaining and whining about being lost earlier, but in reality, he knew how to find the others the whole time; being an assassin meant that he had to track people frequently and it was almost second nature to him. He was skilled in this area. He was experienced. She wasn't. _

_But the girl was currently leading them in the right direction. As the minutes ticked by, the two of them were drawing closer and closer to the rest of the group. Somehow, she had figured it. Somehow, by closing her eyes for a while and reopening them, she suddenly knew what to do, where to go. Somehow, but how?_

_The white-haired boy wanted to know, needed to know. It wasn't so much that he was curious; it was just that in the minute Yori had done the search with her eyes, Killua felt a sense of inferiority to her. To her, a girl. It was the same feeling he got when he was around Illumi, except without the killing intent. A tingle of... something had coursed through his body, his senses and instincts warning him of something._

_But there was no way that he was inferior to her, right? There was no way that he was weaker than her... right?_

_After all, he went through extensive training his whole life. Through all the whippings he endured with Milluki, all the electrocutions he sat through with Illumi, and all the missions he went on, Killua knew that truthfully, he was strong. No one experienced the same hard training that the Zoldycks were forced to partake in, beginning at the mere age of four. There was no way Killua was weaker than a city girl. _

_Killua glanced over at the girl who was still holding onto his hand. She certainly didn't look very strong; in fact, she seemed fragile with her pale skin and small figure, like she was a sick child who just got discharged from the hospital, like she could break down any minute. Like she's never left the comfort of her own house before. _

_Killua was confused, so he finally decided to ask: "Hey, Yori, how did you figure out where the others are?"_

* * *

At last, we reached a clearing and if I squinted, I could make out the figures of people—people from the Hunter Exam! I grinned. The two of us sped up our pace and as we walked, I heard Killua ask, "Hey, Yori, how did you figure out where the others are?"

I faced him and my smile grew bigger. So Killua really didn't know anything about _Nen_? It felt good to have finally wiped the smirk off his face. _'It's a secret!'_ I told him. _'I'll tell you after the exam... if you pass, that is.'_

Before he could protest—because I knew for sure that he was going to protest—I ran up to my brother and swung my arm around his shoulder, almost toppling him over. He stared at me, startled. _'Did you miss me? Were you devastated that your amazing little sister disappeared for a while?'_

Hiroki glared at me, pushing me off him and rubbing his neck. Then, a smile started to form on his lips. "If you're here after getting left behind... does that possibly mean that you used _Nen_ to find us again?"

I froze. I felt a part of me die on the inside. Turning away from him, I wrote, _'Yeah, yeah, you win the stupid bet.'_

"_Ha!_" Hiroki shouted in triumph. "I can't believe I won! _I won!_"

I groaned. Beside me, Killua had gone up to Gon and was currently complaining very loudly about how I got him distracted and how I almost got him lost and how I wouldn't tell him how I figured out which way to go. He deliberately spoke at a volume where he _knew_ that I could hear him and along with Hiroki finding out I lost the bet, this was a serious blow to my pride.

Walking over to him, I smacked the white-haired boy on the head. _'Shut up.'_

"_Ow!_ What was that for?" He cursed, rubbing his head and muttered, "Weirdo."

Here we go again. Just when I thought he could last an hour without calling me weird.

I sighed.

* * *

The examiner of the second phase of the Hunter Exam seemed normal enough. Not. The man was slightly taller than average with shaggy black hair and a sharp chin; he wore a dark red cloak with a hood that covered his ghostly pale face to just above his eyes and had striped tattoo markings all over his arms. As he walked towards us, he was completely silent and I couldn't help but think that it was almost as if he was gliding—_slithering—_across the glass, like a ghost, like a _snake_. He was just like a snake man.

Although Snake Man's appearance was more than a little unusual, I was currently more worried about what he had brought behind him.

In his right hand, the examiner held a leash and attached to that leash was a golden-furred, narrow-eyed, canine barring, vicious-looking tiger. It growled, tugging hard against the leash and jerked its body in our direction, as if it wanted to eat us. Which it probably did.

"Oh god..." I heard Leorio mutter.

Kurapika sighed. "There seems to be an endless amount of wild animals in this year's exam," he said, no doubt referring to the rabid dog that had chased us earlier.

Beside me, Killua whistled. He placed his arms behind his head and eyed the tiger with interest; he had this nonchalant look on his face, a spark in his eyes, as if he was familiar with giant, dangerous, man-eating animals. Knowing Killua, I decided to just leave him be and not question anything; I'd probably end up wishing that I didn't ask when I heard his answer. He just might say something along the lines of, _Oh, I live with a giant monster dog named Mike._

Snake Man lifted a finger and looked the tiger in the eye. "Sssit," he commanded firmly. The tiger sat. O-kay, so Snake Man could tame the wild animal with a single word. Great.

He then turned to face us and smiled, exposing sharp teeth of his own. "Welcome to the ssecond phasse of the Hunter Exam. My name iss Hebi and thiss here"—he gestured at the tiger—"iss Tora." With every word that he said, he drawled out the _s_ sounds, making it seem like he was hissing all the time. Just like a real snake. _Creepy._

"For five hourss," he continued, "you have to ssurvive in this foresst. _However,_ Tora will be in the foresst with you and he iss very hungry." To this, the tiger licked its lips and drool leaked from its mouth. "Sso hide from Tora for five hourss and you passs! Eassy enough, yess?"

One of the examinees grinned, twirling his rifle around casually. "All we have to do is kill the tiger, then, right?"

Hebi disappeared and reappeared just inches away from the person who just spoke up, dark grey eyes staring into blue ones. He hissed. "There will be no killing, undersstood?"

The man with the gun shrank back and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "Y-yes, sir."

With a nod, Hebi retreated back to his former spot beside Tora and addressed the entire group again, "Alright, you guyss get a ten minute head sstart before I releasse Tora. Oh, I sshould mention that Tora iss blind. You may use that information however you want. Now go! Ten minutess sstart now!"

He shooed us away and as the group departed, it was evident that the tension from earlier was gone and was replaced by sighs of relief. Everyone was glad that the tiger was blind because, well, that obviously meant that it made things a lot easier for us. If Tora couldn't see where we were, then how was it possibly going to find us?

But I knew better.

If one of its senses was hindered, then I was almost certain that its other senses were in top condition to make up for the loss of its sight. After all, it still has to survive in the wild somehow and tigers weren't called the _King of the Jungle_ for nothing; they were born hunters and there was no way such a simple problem could give it that big of a handicap. It was wrong to underestimate Tora simply because—

I froze.

There was something—_someone—_here. Another presence other than my own. Waiting. Watching me.

A rustle.

My senses were now on high alert: I strained my ears to listen for any other noises; my eyes scanned the forest, darting right to left, taking in every blade of grass; I stood perfectly still, feeling changes in the wind. But before I even had the chance to raise my arms up in defence, golden-coloured fur flashed in front of me. I blinked and the next thing I knew, Tora flew out, sharp canines sparkling under the sunlight. A paw reached out towards me.

I swallowed thickly, beads of sweat trialing down the side of my face.

_Shit._

* * *

**A/N: **How did you like the little bit in Killua's POV? I'm thinking of doing a part in Hiroki's POV next chapter. Hope it doesn't feel too abrupt. ^^

Fun Fact: Hebi's name translates into "snake"—if Google Translate is accurate. He was originally going to be a man with scratched clothing who hung upside down on tree branches named Saru, which translates into "monkey." Yeah, I don't really know why there seems to be an animal theme going on.

Also... school starts tomorrow. I've had a writer's block and can't seem to get in the mood for writing lately. So updates might be slow(er). I'm really sorry. If you see that I haven't updated in a while, feel free to PM me and yell at me to hurry the hell up.

**NEXT CHAPTER: **In which a spider is killed, fishing rods are used to swing on trees, and Hiroki reveals that he had bombs hidden in his pockets the whole time. Dangerous stuff. And chapter 5 is pretty long.

~Madin456.


	5. i'm a pile of sadness

Sorry guys, not an update.

My laptop broke (more information on my profile) so I won't be able to write for a while. Well I mean, I'm still writing but I can't post it. So I guess this story is on a hiatus now or something. I'll try to get back to it as soon as possible, but who knows when that might be. -sigh-

Anyway, I'm going to curl up in a ball now because I just watched the last, _final_, HXH episode and I'm sad but happy at the same time because it was a pretty amazing ending (at least by anime standards). Now we just have the manga, which will be continued... soon? Hopefully? Well, knowing Togashi, it might not be so soon. -double sigh-

~Madin456


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